Page 17 of Love to Prove You Wrong

He handed me a white dust mask and I turned it around in my palm. It looked anything but sexy. Not that sexy was necessarily the look I was going for, but still. Ridiculous wasn’t a winner either.

“I’ll manage, but thanks,” I said with a smile.

Unless there was a sandstorm, there was no way I was covering my face with that thing.

I dipped one of the paintbrushes in the can and applied the stain to the wood with thick strokes. Justin returned to his workbench. He started measuring pieces of wood, drawing lines and circles on them with a pencil. We worked in silence for a while. Birds were twittering nearby, and a soft breeze ruffled the fresh tree leaves. I let out a contented sigh.

“This is a great work spot, right?” Justin asked. “Quiet, secluded, and beautiful.”

I nodded. “It is. How come Jeff let you use his shed?”

“Our parents are old friends. And you know what it’s like in Old Pine Cove. If someone needs something for a town event, nothing is too much trouble.”

I smiled. “That’s true. Don’t you miss living here?”

He lifted a shoulder. “Sometimes. Old Pine Cove is still home to me. Things hardly change around here. It’s good to have a place that feels so familiar.”

He lifted a fresh piece of wood onto his workbench and my gaze zoomed in on his bicep. I’d never seen one that big. Especially not one that seemed to be made from stone. I stifled a giggle.

“Are you checking me out again?” Justin asked. He didn’t even look up from his work, but the laughter in his voice revealed he had caught me looking.

I shook my head fiercely. “I am not checking you out. I was concerned you might get a sunburn without your shirt on.”

“Huh. Let me guess. You want to put sunscreen on my back?”

I held my paintbrush in the air, the wood stain dripping off the ends. “I’m already putting this smelly liquid on your wood. I think I’m good.”

He looked at me with surprise. His mouth twitched, and he burst into laughter.

“You’re something, Addy,” he said in between heaves of laughter.

I couldn’t help but break into a fit of giggles myself while I felt my cheeks getting redder with every passing second.

For the next hour, we worked in silence, him cutting wood, me staining it.

Surprisingly, the silence wasn’t an awkward one. It was the kind of silence that felt comfortable and good. Like two friends watching the sunset together, each caught up in their own thoughts, the other’s presence a blissful reminder that no one is ever truly alone.

Justin was the first to break the silence between us. “I could use a soda right about now. Want one as well?”

I nodded. “That would be nice.”

He opened the lid to a cooler sitting in the shade, and looked inside. “Any preferences?”

“Do you have Pepsi?”

The ice clanked together as he rummaged through the contents. Then he closed the cooler and plopped himself down next to me, handing me an ice-cold can. “A Pepsi-loving girl is my kind of girl.”

His kind of girl? Ugh, please. What a corny line.

He cracked his soda can open and held it in the air, waiting for me to do the same.

“To not having argued in well over an hour,” he said.

Our cans crashed into each other, the dark liquid almost spilling over the sides.

“That doesn’t count,” I said.

Justin sipped from his drink. “Why not?”

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